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Gender Differences in Unemployment

By CityObservatory Guest

5.12.2014

To celebrate the Census Bureau’s release of the 5-year American Community Survey estimate, we decided to do a quick analysis of some of its information. So for some light Friday afternoon reading, we present you with an analysis of unemployment rates by gender throughout the country.

The 2009-2013 data spans the Great Recession and its aftermath, and as such much of its data reflects trends during that time. It has been widely noted that female unemployment rates were actually lower during the recession (although, men caught up at the end, and it’s important to note that lower unemployment rates don’t necessarily mean higher incomes). We decided to look at this phenomenon in the country’s 51 biggest metros to see if we could find any patterns. We also examined how poverty and the women’s share of the overall workforce intersected with gender differences in unemployment.

Our main findings were that generally, female unemployment rates were lower than male unemployment rates. Women experienced higher unemployment rates in the south, and where poverty rates were higher.. While higher unemployment rates were associated with higher poverty, this holds for both men and women. Finally, it is worth noting that female labor participation rates mean that even while women had higher employment rates than men, it is likely that any given metro had higher numbers of employed men than women. See the full analysis below: